The Self-Sufficiency Lab
Helping immigrants and refugees rebuild careers in the age of AI.
At a time when AI is reshaping the workforce, millions of jobs remain unfilled while many work-authorized immigrants and refugees, including people with professional degrees and years of experience, are unemployed or working in jobs far below their qualifications.
AI is a tool, not an authority.
The Lab helps participants use AI safely, confidently, and thoughtfully while building on the skills, experience, and judgment they already possess.
Why the Lab exists
Practical AI learning for people navigating real career transitions.
As entry-level pathways disappear and the organizations that support newcomers face growing demand and shrinking resources, the people with the fewest resources to adapt are encountering these changes first.
The Self-Sufficiency Lab was created to help close that gap. Rather than teaching AI for its own sake, it helps immigrants, refugees, and others navigating career transitions use AI as a practical tool to rebuild careers, access meaningful work, and achieve greater economic self-sufficiency.
Grounded experience
Built from lived experience, workforce practice, and community trust.
Refugee experience, banking leadership, and immigrant self-sufficiency.
Atta rebuilt his own life after fleeing Afghanistan as a refugee, went on to a 28-year banking career, and has spent years writing about immigrant success and self-sufficiency.
AI tools for employment systems and newcomer communities.
Sohrab builds practical technology for employment systems, translating personal and professional experience into tools that support, not replace, human judgment.
Who it serves
Prioritizing the people facing the greatest barriers to economic mobility.
The Lab is designed for recently arrived immigrants and refugees, skilled professionals working below their experience, transitional-aged youth navigating education and career pathways, and people re-entering the workforce as AI changes the jobs and opportunities they are pursuing.
SkilledProfessionals whose current roles do not reflect their prior training, degrees, or years of experience.
18-26Transitional-aged youth building education, confidence, and first career pathways.
ReturnPeople re-entering the workforce and needing safe, practical ways to use new tools.
How it works
Small cohorts, real tasks, and useful outcomes.
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Trusted community organizations and adult education partners host small cohorts.
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Participants complete 15-25 hours of hands-on learning over 5-8 weeks.
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Every session applies AI to practical career tasks: resumes, job searches, messages, action plans, and safer decision-making.
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Participants leave with practical AI skills, a working resume, a personalized action plan, and a clear next step toward work, education, or career advancement.
The goal is not to make AI the expert. The goal is to help each person use AI while keeping their own judgment in charge.
Measuring success
The first cohort will establish the baseline.
What will be measured
- Completion rates.
- Growth in AI confidence and practical skills.
- Ability to apply AI safely to real-world tasks.
- Concrete next steps toward work or education.
Why the pilot matters
The first cohort will generate the evidence needed to refine the curriculum, strengthen delivery, and understand what community partners need before the model expands.
Cost and scalability
Lean by design, built inside systems communities already trust.
The Lab operates within existing community organizations and adult education programs rather than creating new infrastructure.
An initial cohort requires a modest investment, allowing a single sponsor or small group of partners to underwrite the pilot and clearly evaluate its outcomes. As the model matures, it can expand through workforce and adult education systems that already have the infrastructure and relationships to reach more learners.
A pilot grounded in evidence
The Self-Sufficiency Lab is informed by current workforce research, emerging AI literacy standards, and the practical framework developed in The Self-Sufficient Immigrant in the Age of AI.
Get involved
Three ways to build the first cohorts with us.
Community partners
Host a cohort for the people you serve. The Lab brings structured, hands-on AI learning into trusted community settings.
Sponsors
Underwrite an initial cohort and help create measurable evidence for a model that can grow through existing workforce and education systems.
Learners
Tell us if you or someone you know wants practical AI support for work, education, or career advancement.
Start a conversation
Bring The Self-Sufficiency Lab to your community.
We are building the first cohort model with partners who care about employment, dignity, and practical AI literacy for newcomers and career-transitioning learners.
Based on the book The Self-Sufficient Immigrant in the Age of AI by Atta Arghandiwal and Sohrab Rasouli.